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Religion of Peace?

I read a good article on FrontPage Magazine's website entitled The New Face of Al-Qaeda about this 25 year-old kid named Adam Gadahn who is wanted by the FBI because of his involvement with Al-Qaeda which was revealed to them by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed--a captured former leader in the organization. Evidently Adam isn't a big player in Al-Qaeda, but what makes him different is the fact that he's American born. He's the son of a Christian mother and Muslim father. Neither of whom was religiously active. Gadahn--who describes himself as having been "obsessed with demonic Heavy Metal music"--eventually converted to Islam, with his beliefs growing increasingly violent over time.

The article also talks extensively about how this notion that Islam is a religion of peace is simply nonsense, and backs it up with many quotes from the Qur'an itself. It also says that "Such verses are not taken 'out of context' to justify armed jihad by radical imams such as those who may have taught Gadahn; on the contrary, thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s how they have been understood by Muslims from the beginning of Islam." Now, to be clear, I by no means claim to be an authority on this topic, but I can't deny the violent nature of the verses cited in the article. I don't believe that the average Muslim is violent either, but I do believe that there are some issues the Islamic community needs to settle before they can truly claim to be a religion of peace. How do they explain the Qur'an's violent verses?

Nearly all religions have violent imagery in their texts. Check out the Old Testament or the chapters on war from the Book of Mormon. In many instances violence is officially embraced by the people of God. Why should we expect Islam to be any different?

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